Writing drum parts

"With writing drum parts, I really appreciate it when Brian has a melody constructed when he brings in the song because I try to write to the hook and the melody."

For his own parts, Benny is not interested in busting chops...

"I make a very active effort to play for the song, not for myself,” he says. Yet despite the drummer’s dedication to meticulously crafting grooves and not showboating, he can still run up against the producer in the studio.

"It’s always a battle with me being produced because I’m pretty pig-nosed about my parts once I write them. If it’s a song we’ve been comfortable with and practising for a while and I already have fills and little nuances mapped out, I hate changing it.

"It’s part of the give-and-take of working with somebody and trying to hear something as a whole."